What is addiction? How does it feel to be an addict? What does it look like? Is there a way out, a place BEYOND ADDICTION? These critical questions and the way we answer them make the difference between living a life enslaved to destructive behaviors [2]and one of freedom[3] and expansion.

Most people are familiar with addiction to drugs or alcohol, but addiction takes many forms[4] and it is everywhere around us, all the time. At its very core, addiction is any behavior you continue to engage in despite the negative consequences it brings. If we take the time to really look at ourselves and at the world around us, we don’t have to look hard to see it. Addiction is the root of some of the biggest challenges our society faces today. For example, the medical pandemics of childhood obesity, type 2-diabetes and heart disease are preventable lifestyle diseases driven in large part by addiction.

As an addict you feel stuck, incapable of giving up that thing that you “need” to survive, to function. It twists your thinking, your experience of the world. Addiction leaves you lying to your friends, to your family, to yourself. Being an addict is like being in a small dark room where the only exit seems to be locked from the outside.

The truth is that there is a way out, a way BEYOND ADDICTION[5]. Though neither easy, nor a road one travels alone, a life beyond the grips of addiction is very real. At one time I was stuck in that downward spiral, but after 21 years of recovery I am living proof that an expansive and vibrant life beyond addiction can and does exist.

Along my path of recovery, I discovered that ‘truly moving beyond’ meant addressing my whole self, not just getting clean. It meant addressing the underlying issues that had led me to the dis-ease of my mind, body and spirit.

Having recognized that deep and expansive healing from addiction requires many perspectives, techniques and resources, it is my personal mission to continue to find and to share these essential ingredients of recovery[6].

In sharing my experience of the dark and the light, I know others can begin to heal. So, I have created an online conference called Recovery 2.0: Beyond Addiction to bring together all of the tools necessary to live a life BEYOND ADDICTION.

The Recovery 2.0 Online Conference is about aggregating a living database of recovery wisdom from a diverse group of experts for anyone to access.

This conference features cutting-edge perspectives from many different angles – medical, scientific, spiritual, some in recovery, others working in the field of addiction. This group of people is an outstanding cross-section of the addiction and recovery treatment available on the planet today.

We will address the Big 5 Addictions: drugs, alcohol, food[7], sex and money[8], and explore diverse modalities of recovery such as The 12 Steps, The Recovery Diet, Stress Management, Meditation[9], Yoga[10] and the quest for optimal health.

The Recovery 2.0 Conference will provide you with life-changing, game-changing information to stack the odds in your favor for a successful recovery and a successful life beyond addiction.

Come join us online March 17-21, 2013. It’s completely free. Just sign up here[11] and you are good to go!